Playlist : August 29th - September 2nd, 2011

Hello and welcome to a somewhat more normal edition of Work Tunes.

After last week's technology-related debacle, I am back to some semblence of normalcy at home in terms of my PC. The best thing was being able to overwrite the library for a brand new installation of iTunes with my old library file - instantly giving me back all my playlists and info. Yay! So picking a list to hear at work this week was a lot easier.

For listening duties this week, I've gone pretty heavy for the classic rock (*shock horror*) with a bit of Dylan, The Who, Velvet Underground, Led Zeppelin and The Replacements as well as R.E.M.'s punchy rock set Monster. Representing my Hip Hop sensibilities, Public Enemy's Apocalypse '91 and the Native Tongue sounds of Black Sheep's Non-Fiction. Throw in some hipper vibes from Blitzen Trapper and Head and the Heart and you got yourself a playlist.

Check it out:

• Blitzen Trapper - American Goldwing
• The Who - My Generation : The Best of The Who
• Public Enemy - Apocalypse '91 : The Enemy Strikes Black
• Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II
• Velvet Underground - Loaded (Deluxe)
• Head and the Heart - Head and the Heart
• R.E.M. - Monster
• Black Sheep – Non-Fiction
• Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding
• The Replacements - Tim

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. The Throne
2. Thin Lizzy
3. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
4. Primus
5. The Autumn Defense

Song of the Week : Dolorean - Black Hills Gold

Dolorean - Black Hills Gold is a tribute to the late Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson. I knew Wilson had drowned, but the story about how is what the video for this song is based on and I did not know the story. Here is what Al James said about it:

In 1983, however, he gave into the darkness and drowned at Marina Del Rey, the dock where his beloved sailboat "The Harmony" was once moored. He spent that day drinking and swimming, discovering bits of his life that had been thrown overboard years before during an explosive argument with an ex-wife. Dennis dove into the ocean over and over retrieving memories of his love and his life that were buried at sea. Ultimately, he dove too deep and was washed out into the abyss.

That has stuck with me since I read it on Monday and watched the video:

The song itself is more about what it takes to pull the gold out of the ground and craft it into a ring and how throwing that ring away means more than just a betrayal of the relationship. Interesting and eternally deep. Hope you dig it.

Ciao Bambinos

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find something new and inspiring to listen to, or just enjoy the terrific Dolorean video. See you next week, same bat time; same bat channel.